Means for producing cigarette packages



Aug. 30, 1949. (5. A. MOORE 2,480,501

- MEANS FOR PRODUCING CIGARETTE PACKAGES Filed Sept. 25, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i I Gem-ye Arknjtan A/aare E as, f zwmo, 1104.. 3mm

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MEANS FOR 1 R OD UCING CIGARETTE PACKAGES Filed Sept 25, 1946 I 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 6 5? I .25 1 III. 36 35 E 7 4- 73 C 43 7O 3 Ln: i

Gum/maf- Patented Aug. 30, 1949 MEANS FOR PRODUCING CIGARETTE PACKAGES George Arlington Moore, New York, N. Y., as-

signor to Reynolds Metals Company, Richmond, Va., a corporation of Delaware Application September 25, 1946, Serial No. 699,201

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to cigarette packages formed of flexible sheet material and provides an improved method for sealing the packages. The invention is especially concerned with cigarette packages of the type now widely used which are fabricated of three basic units of sheet material, namely, a casing which is wrapped around the cigarettes with loose unseated folded ends and an overlapping longitudinal seam, a label jacket or wrapper folded over the casing on five sides leaving the casing exposed at the top, and a revenue stamp across the top holding the loose folds together. After the packages have been so fabricated, they are transferred to an operation where they are wrapped in heat-sealing cellophane, giving the packages a total of four units of sheet material.

One of the characteristic and objectionable features of said present cigarette packages is that the casing is not sealed; it is merely loosely folded. The cellophane wrapper is resorted to in effort to protect the cigarettes because the casing and wrapper are inadequate.

My invention provides a method for effecting complete sealing of the casing, eliminating the need for the jacket, its retained function being as a label, eliminating the functional need of the revenue stamp to hold the package together, and eliminating the cellophane wrapper altogether. There is reputed to be at the present time over 4000 machines in use in this country operatingat an average unit capacity of 125 packages of cigarettes per minute, producing cigarette packages of the aforementioned type, each package containing 20 cigarettes.

The present invention may utilize the commonly used automatic packaging machines, without appreciable alteration, to fabricate a package of cigarettes that is fully sealed, giving better protection to the cigarettes without an exterior cellophane or like wrapper. My invention results in the production of a superior package consisting of but two essential parts in place of the four now used, the revenue stamp in my package serving no functional purpose.

In carrying on a method of my invention, I may use a casing formed of the so-called cigarette foil which is a duplex sheet material comprising a sheet of paper with aluminum sheet bonded on one surface. I may also use triplex laminated sheet material for the casing comprising a core of paper or like material with a sheet of soft aluminum bonded to each exterior surface. A sheet formed of soft aluminum imparts a very desirable characteristic to the casing in my invention. It

is non-resilient and the sheet remains where it is placed without springing to its former position or shape. This non-resiliency, in combination with the sealing operation, contributes in no small way to the effective results I achieve. The casing is coated either over one entire surface or in pattern form with a suitable dry thermoplastic adhesive, such as plasticized ethyl cellulose, nitrocellulose, Vinylite, or like materials. The casing, label wrapper and revenue stamp are preferably applied as usual on the packaging machine. At the conclusion of production on the packaging machine, the packages formed according to my invention differ essentially from the conventional packages in that my packages include a dry thermoplastic material between the seams and the folds. I prefer, however, to include additional differences, such as lifting tabs for opening the ends and a casing formed of triplex sheet material. In accordance with my invention, the packages as thus produced and without the cellophane wrapper are subjected to a sealing operation comprising simultaneously heating the thermoplastic adhesive to adhesive consistency and subjecting the longitudinal seams and end folds to a high frequency to settle and flatten the seams and folds into close adhering contact.

Instead of springing back when vibrated, the casing sheet is dead and each impulse brings the folds in small increments into more intimate fiat contact. In this respect the triplex laminated sheets having a core of paper and two exterior sheets of soft aluminum foil are more effective than a sheet having but one exterior sheet of aluminum. I maintain the seam and folds in close contact until the thermoplastic has cooled and set. The completed package is tightly and completely sealed and protects the cigarettes more effectively than the packages now containing the cellophane wrapper.

These and other novel features of the invention will be better understood after considering the following discussion taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a strip of sheet material as supplied in roll form comprising blanks for forming the the casing in accordance With my invention;

Fig. 2 shows a cigarette package in an early stage of formation;

Fig. 3 shows a cigarette package as producedon the customary packaging machine.

Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged end views of fragments of sheet material for forming package casings;

Fig. 6 is an isometric view from the section line 6 -6 of Fig. '7;

Fig. '7 is a side View, somewhat diagrammatic, of apparatus for carrying out the method of my invention, and

Fig. 8 is a view of the package of Fig. 3 from the opposite side showing the longitudinal seam.

Fig. 1' illustrates a sheet of material modified for the purposes of my invention as it is supplied to the packaging machine in reels. It may be a duplex laminated sheet of ordinary cigarette foil, as shown in Fig. 4, or a triplex laminated sheet, as shown in Fig. 5, or other equivalent material. The dry thermoplastic adhesive may be applied either as a continuous coating or in pattern form. Fig. 1 shows it applied in patterns I and 2 along the side edges which becomethe end folds and as a lateral strip 3. The lateral strip of adhesive 3 is for the longitudinal scam. I prefer to leave uncoated areas 4 and 5 to form unsealed tabs to facilitate opening the package. The sheet has longitudinal score lines 5 and l' for giving better shape to the ends of the package and for facilitating feeding of the sheets through the machine. Vifhen adhesive material is applied in pattern form to the sheet, it is necessary to cut the blanks off at a precise place. To this end, a registration line 8 is printed on each blank to operate an electric eye and adjusting equipment to maintain the cutoff precisely along the out line it? between adjacent blanks. This adl usting equipment requires but a slight addition to the present machine. The lateral broken lines H, l2, l3 and I4 define the corners of the package.

Fig. 2 shows the casing 210 formed from one of the blanks of Fig. 1 after it is wrapped around the arbor of the packing machine, filled with cigarettes and folded into position for application of the label wrapper 2!. The label wrapper is ordinarily formed of paper and contains the printing usually employed. The casing has its longitudinal seam 22 and the folds of the bottom 23 unsealed. The top 24 will not be folded until the package is stripped from the arbor.

Fig. 3 shows a cigarette package as it is completed on the packaging machine. The label wrapper is folded over the casing, the bottom is spot glued, and the longitudinal edge is also glued with water-soluble glue. The revenue stamp 25 is placed over the top folds and label wrapper and holds the package in position. Application of the revenue stamp is the last operation performed on the machine. The package shown in Fig.- 3 embodies a feature not found in present packages. The top end is provided with two tabs 26 and 2? which, by reason. of the unsealed areas 4 and 5, are not later sealed. The material surrounding these tabs is sealed however. In order to facilitate lifting the tabs with the fingernails and tearing open the end, I provide slits 23 and 29 along the edges of the revenue stamps. These slits are formed at a transfer stage on the machine after the package is removed from the arbor. A plunger with one or two knives thereon, depending on whether there is to be one slit or two, pushes the package into a trough through folding tools. As the top end is folded over the knives on the transfer plunger, the knives cut the slits.

Fig. 4 shows a sheet of duplex material comprising a sheet of paper 36 and a sheet of aluminum foil bonded together, known as cigarette foil, which is used extensively at this time as a casing.

Fig. 5 illustrates a triplex laminated sheet material comprising a core of paper 32 and exterior layers of aluminum foil 33 and 34 bonded to the paper. Because this material is more impervious to the passage of moisture and the loss of aroma and is less resilient than the duplex laminated sheet of Fig. 4, I prefer to use it in forming the casing.

The apparatus illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 is for sealing both the end folds and the longitudinal seam of the cigarette package. This machine, which is a more or less unitary compact structure, is preferably attached directly to the packaging machine. It comprises four endless metal belts, all operating in the same direction and at synchronized speeds. These belts are preferably formed of steel or bronze and are around 0.005 to 0.008 inch thick. The upper belt 35 passes around the crowned pulleys 3e and 3'! which maintain the belt in precise alignment. The belt travels in a channel 38 formed in the metal heater 39. This channel is defined by a depending integral side t?) and by a removable side Al, the space between the sides being just slightly larger than the width of a cigarette package. The electric heating element in the form of a removable coil 32 is mounted in the heater. The electric vibrating device 43, preferably a device which gives a GO-cycle vibration on (SO-cycle alternating current, is attached to the heater. The frame of the device comprises two parts, namely, a more or less fixed or rigid part 44 and a yieldable or vibrating part 45 attached to the fixed part through rubber blocks 48 which absorb the vibration transmitted to the frame 45. The vibrator has a projecting lug A? by means of which it is connected to the frame 45. As illustrated, the lug, frame 45 and heater are all connected together by the bolt 48. Two layers of asbestos 49 are interposed between the heater and the frame to prevent an undue transfer of heat to the frame and vibrator. The belt 35 is in contact with the heater and bears lightly against the tops of the cigarette packages.

The belt 52 which engages the bottoms of the packages, the heater 53, heating coil 54, vibrators 55, lug 56, bolt 57, asbestos washers 55, and rubber block 59 are all similar to the corresponding elements associated with the upper belt 35. The frame 65 vibrates with the vibrators and heaters and has a three-point rubber mounting on the fixed frame 4d.

The upper and lower belts engage the ends of the cigarette packages with sufficient pressure to feed them through the machine. The heaters 39 and 53 bear directly on the belts and the heat and vibrations are transmitted through the belts to the folded ends of the packages.

In order to seal the longitudinal seams, I provide the side belts 62 and 86 which are similar to belts 35 and 52. The belt 62 engages the sides of the packages with the longitudinal seams and travels against the flat side of the electric heater 63. This heater comprises two electric coils 64 and 65 and is attached to the frame by the bolt 56. The layer of asbestos El prevents an undue flow of heat into the frame. Since the frame 45 is vibrated by the vibrators es and 55, the heater 53 which is supported on this frame is also vibrated by the vibrators. and the belt, accordingly, transmits both heat and vibrations simultaneously to the longitudinal seams. The belt 64 is provided to maintain pressure on the opposite side of belt 62 so that the longitudinal seams may be suitably pressed together by the vibrations of belt 62.

Fig.7 shows but one set of vibrators and heaters for each belt. Several similar sets may be arranged one after the other in the direction of belt travel. Fig. 6 shows only a portion of the frames and the mountings at one end of each vibrator and heater. Similar lugs, bolts, asbestos layers and rubber blocks are used at the other ends of these devices.

The belts are provided in such length that the cigarette packages are maintained a suflicient time under the pressure of the belts after the sealing has been completed for the adhesive to set. I may, however, facilitate the setting of the adhesive by mounting the cooling units 10 and H in contact with belts 35 and 52, respectively. A similar cooling unit may be mounted alongside of belt 62.

At the place where the packages are normally discharged from the packaging machine, I mount a pusher l3 and operate it in timed relation to the machine to push the packages one at a time between the belts as they come into position. The belts are so proportioned and are operated at such speeds that a predetermined space, say, onequarter to one-half inch, is maintained between the packages. As the packages pass between those portions of the belts in contact with heaters 39, 53 and 63, heat flows through the thin metal belts and is transmitted through the adhesive between the folds. The thermoplastic soon reaches adhesive consistency and simultaneously the folds are settled into flat contacting positions by the succession of impulses, resulting from the action of the vibrators.

My invention thus provides an economical method of utilizing existing machines of a very large industry whereby the conventional method of package fabrication is used, producing heatsealed packages to gain improved keeping quality and utility.

I claim:

In the production of yieldable cigarette packages of the type having a casing produced on an automatic packaging machine of flexible sheet material having end folds and an overlapping longitudinal seam, the improvement which comprises forming a casing of flexible non-resilient sheet material coated with a thermoplastic adhesive material, heating the thermoplastic adhesive material to adhesive consistency and simultaneously pressing the longitudinal seam into sealing contact and settling and flattening the end folds by subjecting them to high frequency vibrations.

GEORGE ARLINGTON MOORE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 

